Lynch is now focus of GOP investigation

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are now looking at former Attorney General Loretta Lynch after James Comey’s testimony earlier this month. During his testimony, Comey revealed he was concerned about Lynch telling the FBI to refer to the Clinton investigation as a “matter” instead of a criminal investigation.

The redirection could signal the beginning of a more substantial case against members of the Obama administration, including Hillary Clinton and Obama. As of now, the so-called “Russian probe” has yielded zero evidence that members of the Trump transition team “colluded” with the Russians during the 2016 presidential election.

As a member of both the Intelligence and Judiciary committees, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said he’s very interested in hearing Lynch testify before the Judiciary panel, which oversees the Justice Department.

“Frankly, a lot of what Hillary Clinton was exposed to by Director Comey’s misconduct and the way he handled that was apparently in response to his lack of confidence in the attorney general, and I think there is a lot we could learn from that,” Cornyn said.

A spokesman for Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said staffers needed to “gather evidence” first, but noted that Lynch’s testimony before the Judiciary Committee “will become necessary at some point.”

President Trump tweeted this week, “A.G. Lynch made law enforcement decisions for political purposes, giving Hillary Clinton a free pass and protection. Totally illegal!”

Other senators, including Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) agree with Lynch testifying. “Well, I kind of would like to get the whole thing behind us, but she should be interrogated [by a committee] because there’s some real questions about whether her actions were proper,” said Hatch.

Lynch’s name first came up in Comey’s testimony when he told the Judiciary Committee in an open hearing in May that he had been worried the Justice Department couldn’t “credibly” decline to prosecute Clinton without “grievous damage to the American people’s confidence in the justice system.”

Privately, Comey told Intelligence Committee members that he confronted Lynch on whether she had agreed to shut down the FBI’s investigation when she had a clandestine meeting with former President Bill Clinton during the investigation.

Even Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) believes that Lynch should be brought in for questioning. “I think we need to know more about that,” she said, “And there’s only way to know about it, and that’s to have the Judiciary Committee take a look at that.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) was not as forthright. “Well, before I say anything further on this, I want to hear what Loretta Lynch’s side of the story is. I haven’t heard that yet,” he told reporters.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), on the other hand, just wants to stick to Trump. “We have a front-and-center investigation that relates to the national security of the United States,” he said, adding, “Going back in the previous administration, I guess all of us have some questions about it, but we have a current investigation that is front and center in the American people’s attention span, and that’s what we ought to focus on.”

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